Discussion Board

Topic: Halo: Cryptum

From: Andrew Plebanek
Location: Racine, WI
Date: 01/14/2011

I bought Halo: Cryptum on the day it came out, and I must say, it is not only the best piece of Halo literature written thus far, it's one of the best works of contemporary science fiction I've read in a long time. I literally did not put it down until I finished it later that afternoon. I'm a big fan of the Halo universe, but this took the story somewhere both completely unexpected and true to the Halo mythos. That said, I did have one question about where Halo: Cryptum falls into the rest of the storyline:

In Halo 3, there were a series of terminals with recorded correspondences from the days of the Forerunners (you probably know about this already, but I'm just making sure). Now in some of these terminals, there were conversations between the Librarian and the Didact that seem to have occurred during the Forerunner's war with the Flood, which began while the Didact was inside his Cryptum. This has confused a couple of the folks at Halopedia (yeah, I know, were addicted to minutiae : P), because if the Didact was in hibernation for 1,000 years prior to the events of the book, then how could he have been corresponding with the Librarian about the Flood, Mendicant Bias , etc?

Sorry about the hefty post, and I don't want to sound like I'm bashing on your book at all, because I genuinely enjoyed every page. Thanks for your time,
-Andrew Plebanek

Re: Halo: Cryptum

From: Greg Bear
Date: 01/14/2011

Not sure the timelines are going to mesh exactly, but the Didact enters the Cryptum long after the threat of the Flood is apparent. The humans, after all, had encountered the Flood before their defeat... But we could be engaging in some spoilers here! Thanks for your thoughts, Andrew.

Re: Halo: Cryptum

From: Zack Ziarnek
Location: Southern Illinois
Date: 02/10/2011

Andrew... Which Didact was recorded in those conversations? Was it the original who was self-exiled to the cryptum? Or perhaps the one who was formerly Bornstellar? Assuming that the events at the end of Cryptum are taking place at the beginning of the Forerunner/Flood war, it is possible that the conversations were between the Librarian and (second) Didact.

Greg, Great book. I can not believe it could have had a better story line or tellin there of...

Re: Halo: Cryptum

From: Greg Bear
Date: 02/25/2011

Thanks, Zack. No spoilers from me!

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